Jason Garrison traded to Tampa Bay as Canucks clear out salary

Summary of 3 articles · Updated Jun 27, 2014

The Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday acquired defenseman Jason Garrison from the Vancouver Canucks. The Tampa Bay Lightning acquired defenseman Jason Garrison from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a second-round pick in 2014. "They were a very good team… (more)," Garrison said of playing the Lightning this past season. The former Florida Panthers defenseman is now a Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman, as the Canucks acquired the No. 50 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft for Garrison, the rights to University of Notre Dame player Jeff Costello and a seventh-round pick in 2015. Garrison had 33 points in 81 games last season, but his possession numbers cratered under coach John Tortorella. He has career totals of 38 goals and 108 points in 318 games with the Panthers and Canucks. Two days after re-signing pending UFA Ryan Callahan for six years at a $5.8 million cap hit, GM Steve Yzerman was aggressive with his payroll instead of sitting back on a good season that could have been better with a healthy Ben Bishop in the playoffs.